Chewy Confections


How do you describe the texture of jelly worm, caramels, and nougat?
  • The texture of jelly worm is elastic solid and feels greasy.
  • The texture of caramels is elastic but it is in solid and liquid form.
  • Nougat is also elastic but the texture is harder than jelly worm.

Apart from sucrose, corn syrup and high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) are common sweeteners in chewy confections. Apart from providing sweetness, what are the functions of the syrups?
  • Non-grained confections have higher ratios of corn syrup to sucrose, to inhibit the sucrose's crystallization. A stable non-grained candy will have all the sucrose in solution in the product's syrup phase throughout its shelf life. Besides creating stability to crystallization, corn syrup also provides a degree of chewiness to candies. The majority of chewy confections exist as non-grained candies.